1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an article having an electromagnetic coupling module attached thereto and, in particular, to an article having an electromagnetic coupling module including a wireless IC chip attached thereto that is used for a radio frequency identification (RFID) system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, RFID systems have been developed. In RFID systems, a reader/writer that generates an induction field communicates with an IC tag (hereinafter, referred to as a wireless IC device) attached to an article in a non-contact manner. Thus, information is communicated therebetween. Examples of the wireless IC device used in the RFID system include a wireless IC device described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-203187.
The wireless IC device described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-203187 includes an antenna made of a metal wire arranged on a glass substrate or a PET film and a device forming layer arranged so as to at least partially overlap with the antenna. By attaching such a wireless IC tag to articles, the articles can be monitored and managed.
However, since the size of the wireless IC device is relatively large, the wireless IC device cannot be attached to a small article. In addition, a metallic antenna is required. Accordingly, in order to obtain a desired gain, the size of the antenna needs to be increased. Therefore, the size of the wireless IC device is further increased. Furthermore, a substrate must be accurately positioned when being attached on the antenna. Accordingly, the attachment procedure is relatively complicated. Still furthermore, the resonant frequency characteristic of the wireless IC device varies in accordance with the layout of the antenna. Therefore, it is difficult to attach the wireless antenna to a variety of articles even when it is desired that the wireless antenna be used in various ways.